Snowman Memories

We're officially stuck inside for the day...maybe two...maybe three. It rained all day yesterday and everything froze overnight. Temperatures may stay below freezing until Sunday. Could be a stir-crazy few days. Before you hate on all of us Texans "freaking out" about some snow and cold temperatures, give us a break. We don't have snow. I repeat: there is NO SNOW here. It's all ice. The roads are solid blocks of ice. The sidewalks are skating rinks. The cars are frozen shut. We just can't go anywhere.

As I looked out my window this morning, it reminded me of my absolute favorite day of college: the snow weekend in February of 2010. Living at Victory Hall at UNT, we were secluded. Our dorm was across the interstate from our campus, any other dorms, any fast food, any civilization. Basically, when we were snowed-in, there was no where to go.

First up in our snow-filled day was the inevitable snowball fight. It didn't matter who you hit, just hit somebody. Bonus points if it was your own friend. I remember some guy threw one and hit my camera out of my hand from a LONG way away. After the 2-second panic that the camera was damaged, I laughed and gave him a thumbs-up.

Sometime after people had begun filing back inside for a bit of warmth, we saw something amazing happening in the field. A large snowball. As the crowd gathered and there was more man-power, it got bigger and bigger. This would be the base of Vic, the giant Victory Hall snowman.

So many people worked together to make this guy a reality. The first attempt to pick up a "torso" for Vic was a fail. The 2nd-giant snowball was just way too heavy. Then, using our college-minds, we figured out that we needed to build a ramp. Tons of people began bringing blocks of snow to built the ramp. Eventually, we rolled the torso right onto the base. Then, cleared away the ramp.

Then, someone was hoisted up onto the top, so we could add on the last piece, his head. We passed up snow until he was built, then my favorite part began: the details. People ran off into the cafeteria to grab apples and oranges, their dorm rooms to get necklaces and hats, the trees to get arms...all for our snowman.

Before you knew it, Vic was complete. To me, it felt like the ending of one of those motivational movies. Not all of this group were friends. In fact, many of them had never spoken to one another before. Some, probably didn't even like each other. But the common bond of wanting to see that snowman come to life was more powerful than all of that. It felt like we weren't just dorm-mates. We were a team. We were friends. We were a Mean Green Victory Hall family!